At first, we were excited about having our wedding here, but from the beginning Cliff the manager and Courtland Manor were frustrating and difficult: our questions were met with partial answers after days or weeks of delay, and tastings/visits were repeatedly canceled without notice or warning. Several times Cliff offered services, only to get angry and impatient when we asked what different options would cost and then refuse to offer the services at all.
Despite many attempts, we never were able to get Cliff to send us a contract to sign even after we had (foolishly) sent our deposit. Then, after we switched wedding planners, the situation became so unacceptably bad that we had to find another venue with six weeks to go until our wedding. We repeatedly woke up to rambling, paranoid 3am e-mails from Cliff accusing us of trying to cheat him (he claimed he had only accepted our booking on the promise of more bookings from our original planning company, which was news to both us and them). It also became clear several months into the process that he thought our original planner was the bride!
Cliff insisted that his agreement was with our original wedding planner company (with whom neither he nor Courtland Manor had any prior relationship) and not us, refused to work at all with our new planner, and simply stopped answering our e-mails or calls. Finally when someone answered the phone and misheard our name, and Cliff took the call for the first time in weeks of trying, we could no longer deny that he was intentionally avoiding us, and we lost all confidence that he would act in good faith to host our wedding successfully. We offered an ultimatum that should have been easy and obvious: agree to work with our vendors, answer our calls and e-mails, and send us a signed contract or we would have to find a different venue. He refused, and insisted that he would move forward with the event (i.e., OUR WEDDING) with our old planners (who had already told him they had no further involvement) and without us (???). He also refused to return our deposit, but thankfully we had paid by credit card so, though it took six anxiety-filled months, we were able to get our money back. If not, we would have had to go to court.
The venue may seem nice, but there are other equally nice venues available. DON'T RISK HAVING YOUR EVENT HERE. read more